PEMANFAATAN BONGGOL PISANG SEBAGAI BIOFILTER CEMARAN MIKROPLASTIK DI PERAIRAN KABUPATEN CILACAP

The increasing use of plastic by humans has resulted in plastic becoming the most significant waste pollutant in the world today. Microplastics, which are the result of degradation from plastic pollutants, can be harmful to health. On the other hand, banana pith, which has a fibrous and fine-pored texture, can be used as a biofilter. The research aims to utilize banana pseudostem into a biofilter to reduce microplastic contamination in water used daily. The research used the Research and Development (R&D) method. Data collection was obtained from experiments using thinly sliced banana stalks arranged in a filtration device and then used to filter water samples from four locations in Cilacap Regency, namely PDAM water, Serayu River, Kaliyasa and Penyu Bay seawater. Based on the study's results, it can be concluded that the banana stump can be utilized as a biofilter for microplastic contamination by making it into a slice with a thickness of 1.38 mm. The slice is installed in a filtration device to filter water suspected of being contaminated with microplastics. The banana pomegranate biofilter proved effective in filtering suspected microplastic objects with a diameter above 8 µm even though the pores of the banana pomegranate are between 5 - 154 µm. This is because the average length of microplastics is greater than 33.3 µm. The types of objects suspected of microplastics in PDAM water, Serayu River, Kaliyasa and Penyu Bay sea filtered by banana leaf biofilters are fibres and fragments in various forms, namely rayon, nylon, cellulose, fiber, fibro, acliric, tempera and pigment